VANITY publishing firm Pentland Press Ltd claimed to be "the largest and most successful company of its type in the United Kingdom".

Not any more. Since then it has collapsed, leaving almost 1,000 outraged creditors in its wake. Most of them are would-be authors whose dreams of seeing their work in bookshops have been shattered.

The only thing many are going to see in print is the liquidator's statement, showing that Pentland has debts of £260,000 it cannot meet.

Asked what chance there was of authors recovering their money, liquidator Steve Ross replied: "None. It's an absolute disaster."

With the ashes of this mess still warm, Pentland director John Anthony Phillips has set up another vanity publishing outfit, Raby Books, of Eggleston, Co Durham.

"I do appreciate that a lot of people out there would probably be aggrieved but we did as much as we could to salvage something for the authors," said Phillips, 52.

"I can see it looks like we've shut down one company and started another but Raby Books will operate with the emphasis on quality and attention to detail."

Enough of the sales pitch - where's all the Pentland money gone? According to the liquidator, #10,000 went to the Inland Revenue following a VAT inspection. Another #40,000 was paid to former director Nicholas Law and part-owner of the company Richard Kay.

More still went in legal fees after one author sued Pentland when his book bombed. The firm lost the case because it changed its contracts to include a clause promising a refund if sales failed to recoup the author's investment. As a ploy to attract new custom, the clause was perfect.

Financially, it was catastrophic, leaving Pentland open to legal action from writers whose books sink without trace - which tends to happen in vanity publishing.

Phillips said the clause was inserted during a period after he had resigned as a director but still worked for the company. "My name went on the letters but it was run by Kay and Law," he told us, saying he only discovered that fatal clause when he returned as a director in June 2000.

Next we visited Melrose Press Ltd, in Ely, Cambs, run by Kay and Law. The latter, incidentally, was a director of a CD mail order firm liquidated last year.

"That clause was put in unbeknown to me," insisted Law, 47. "Phillips was in control and dreamt it up."

While the former directors squabble we'll leave the final word to Reg Weaver, of Ellesmore Port, Cheshire.

He paid Pentland £5,800 to print 1,000 copies of his collection of poetry. "Not counting the list of 120 friends I gave them, the firm sold precisely four copies," he said.

"When I asked for a refund as per my contract they refused. They are the biggest scammers you have ever come across."

If you have a similar problem, contact us, or call vanity publishing campaigner Johnathon Clifford on 01329 822 218.